


friends will be friends

by notsaoirseronan



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Jake Peralta, Coming Out, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, My First Work in This Fandom, No cheating, Past Relationship(s), between jake and holt, dont tell my wip im here, no beta we die like men, that's why the jake/omc tag is there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 22:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21126176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notsaoirseronan/pseuds/notsaoirseronan
Summary: Jake is bi, but he hasn't told anyone. He did an alright job at hiding ituntil his ex walked into the precinct.ORAlmost 3K words of emotions and bisexuality





	friends will be friends

**Author's Note:**

> friendly reminder that I know nothing about police procedures

It's weird how you can forget a whole aspect of your personality. Or even just your identity. But, somehow, Jake managed that. He'd entirely forgotten his bisexuality, which wasn't usual for someone who, before he got together with his wife, would sleep around a bit, even with men. So, when he got together with Amy, he was fresh out of a breakup with a guy that he liked. Connor. Connor was great. He watched all Die Hard movies on repeat with Jake so he could quote them with him. He liked all the same stuff as Jake did and he never failed to make Jake smile.  
Except, approaching their three-month anniversary, they'd grown apart more. Jake would deny staying over at his place, claiming he had to be up early for work. They didn't sleep with each other as much.   
Their chemistry was gone.

So they broke up. It was a mutual agreement, but it was sad. Jake was convinced he and Connor were soulmates of some sort. But, his main portrayal of romance in his life were his parents, so his view on soulmates was a bit fucked up. Y'know, as it tends to be when you grow up in that kind of environment.

When they broke up, Jake was heartbroken. It felt as if he was missing a piece of himself. He wouldn't show it at work, because as far as they knew, he'd been single ever since Sophia. But at home, let's just say that the Kelly Clarkson albums downloaded on his phone got one helluva play.

But then he started dating Amy, and he realised that his view on soulmates was wrong. A relationship isn't supposed to be a taker and a giver. It's two givers who accept the other person's flaws. Sure, they had their fights, but Jake never felt as if he was losing Amy. She was still as interested in their relationship two years in as she was the first week.

So he proposed.

He wanted the world to know that he was so goddamn lucky to have her. He wanted to shout it from the Empire State Building. Jake was so happy that he found his soulmate who watched Die Hard with him, despite not knowing what was going on. And he loved her so deeply that he felt he could cry. Sometimes he did. It wasn't his fault that someone so smart and funny and pretty actually was in love with him.

They set the date, and things went to hell. The bomb threat, the cake, the dress, the veil, everything went wrong that day.

But Jake didn't care.

He would do it all over again for a sliver of a chance that they made it through all of the problems and got married that day.

The first year of marriage was blissful. It hadn't changed that much in their relationship. Except that Jake would proudly refer to Amy as 'Wife' and variations of that word. But she loved it.

Who knew that your world could come crashing down with the ding of an elevator?

Jake had a habit of having his attention pulled to any new sound, so he often got whiplash with how quickly his head turned to the elevator. So when he saw his ex come out of the elevator, looking around, his heart fell to his gut.

He didn't still love him, but it was awkward to see your ex in a public place.

"Sorry, sir, but I need to report a break-in?" Jake wasn't facing him. So he made a slight grimace and turned to meet Connor.  
"Yes, how may I help you?" He said. Connor backed away for half a step.  
"Whoa," He glanced at the nameplate. "Jake? Holy shit, dude,"  
"Yeah, holy shit. Listen, you had a B&E?"  
"Oh, yeah, someone broke into my boyfriend's and my apartment. And I didn't think to call 911 so now I'm here," He explained weakly. Jake sighed, chugged the last of his coffee and led Connor to the briefing room.

"Sorry, dude, I couldn't concentrate with all of that noise. So, someone broke in. Did they steal anything?"  
"Yeah, uh, the engagement ring that I was going to propose to him with," Jake nodded and wrote it down in his notebook. Say what you will about how computers make everything easier, but notebooks were quickly available whenever you had ideas. And when you're a detective, those need to be treasured.  
"Yep, let's see my CO and he'll assign the case to someone on the squad,"

"Peralta, you're in my office with a stranger. Please tell me he's a civilian, I cannot deal with your childish endeavours today," Captain Holt's hands were folded on the table.  
"Not childish at all, sir. This is Connor O'Neil. He was just a victim of a B&E in which an engagement ring was stolen. Do we have any available detectives who can take the case?" Jake said on his professional voice. He never used it, but he wanted to show Connor that he had changed.   
Holt clearly noticed the change, but seemingly decided against commenting on the matter.  
"Detective Boyle is free, and as are you, Peralta, You work the case together,"

As much as Jake disliked the fact that he was working the case, he was nervous. Not because it was Connor's case, but because Boyle could easily sniff out the history between them and then it would only be a matter of time before he came out. And he didn't want to come out. Not yet.

Sure, he was getting old, and coming out in your forties is probably not a good idea, but he liked being in the closet. he understood why some people didn't like it, but he did. It gave him protection. He could make comments about men he found attractive and could play it off as being comfortable in his own sexuality, like Charles or Terry.

The one person he wanted to come out to was Amy. He told her almost everything. They barely had any secrets. Except for the one that Jake was keeping. And it was weird.

He decided against texting her the ever-suspicious _we need to talk, _and instead opted to pay her a visit on his way downstairs.  
"Connor, let's just stop by the Uniformed Officers, I want you to meet someone," He said. Amy emerged from the briefing room, carrying a stack of case files.  
"Hey, Ames," He said. She jumped a little, but somehow she managed not to drop anything.  
"Connor, this is my wife, Amy. Amy, this is Connor, I'm helping him with a B&E," He leaned in to hug her. Confusedly, she hugged back.  
"He's my ex," He whispered. "I'll explain later, bye, my darling!" Jake called out as he left the precinct.

Connor would meet them at the crime scene since Jake had to wait for Charles to get out of a good old fashioned interrogation. Apparently, it went well, since, not even five minutes after he'd left, Charles emerged from the doors.  
"What's the gossip?" He said as he climbed into the car.  
"Gross. Don't call it that. Okay, so, Connor O'Neil. His apartment got broken into last night and the perp stole an engagement ring, he realise it was stolen first, but since he was planning on proposing today, he couldn't find the ring," Jake explained, handing him the case file.

There were no apparent signs of violence, meaning the thief knew what they were doing. There was no damage on the wall next to the door, so nothing rough had been used to break open the door.  
According to Connor, he'd noticed that the door was unlocked when he came home, but he assumed that his boyfriend hadn't locked it on his way out. Apparently, he easily forgot about things like that. Especially since they'd recently moved in together, so new habits might be hard to form in a new location. 

His boyfriend was called Jack and he was a bartender at FrankNFruity, a gay bar in Brooklyn. And he didn't know anything. He'd been out with his sister, who was in town for the weekend, and had gotten home, slept for an hour and then gone to work.  
At least that what he told them.  
"I clocked in at ten-thirty AM, and I began cleaning up as usual,"  
"Your house is half an hour away, are you saying you fell asleep at eight in the morning?"  
"No, I'm just saying how I felt it. I might've gotten in at like four, dude, I don't know,"  
"Jack, there's a big difference between four and eight," Charles chimed in.

Jake found it hard to focus, even more so than usual. Charles noticed and pulled him aside.  
"Alright, what's the problem?"  
"Nothing!" Jake said defensively. "It's just been a bit of a day, y'know, I fucked up my breakfast this morning, I slept through my alarm, my ex came for help with a crime, my card got declined at lunch, and-"  
"Whatdidyousay?" Charles said.  
"Huh?"  
"You said something about your ex?"  
"Oh," _fuck_. Not exactly how he was going to come out to his friend.  
"Well, uh, earlier, my ex-girlfriend's handbag was stolen," He tried to save it.  
"Bullshit. You ranted for ten minutes about Die Hard Five because the Captain didn't have a case for you to jump onto," Damn Charles and his incredible memory. 

Jake knew that he had to come out eventually, and he had begun planning how he was going to come out to everyone in the precinct. He even intended to use the speech he gave to Rosa. The only person who knew was his mom, who'd walked in on Jake and another guy kissing, back in high school. He'd explained the situation to his confused mother, who accepted him regardless.  
She even made him cupcakes with bi flags on them.

But he hadn't planned on telling Charles in the car, on their way to a pawn shop. He knew that he was close to the truth since he was guessing everyone who'd come into the precinct that day. Every female. He pulled the car to a stop outside a pub.  
"Charles," He said solemnly. "I'm bi,"   
Jake could see the cogs in his brain turning and the realisation hit his friend's face.  
"Oh! that makes so much sense!"  
"It does?"  
"Yes, why else would you like Die Hard so much? It's got Bruce Willis all sweaty and stuff,"  
"I mean, the writing is also good," He tried. Charles was smiling widely.  
"Jake, I'm glad you told me, I'm proud of you" That was it for him. _Here come the waterworks,_ Jake thought, tears welling up.

It took a while for him to calm down, but what could you expect? He rarely got to hear that as a child.

The pawnshop was of higher quality than the ones they'd visited before. The jewellery was covered with those glass boxes that you see in fancy stores. Connor had described the ring in detail, so Jake was positive that he would know it when he saw it. A green glint in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He rang the bell and walked over to it.

From his perspective, it was simple. A silver band with a green stone embedded. The attendant arrived.  
"How can I help you, sir?"  
"Yeah, I just wanted to take a closer look at that ring," He gestured. She nodded, put on gloves and took it out.

Upon further inspection, you could see intricate engravings, both around the stone and on the inside of the ring.  
"Who gave this to you?" Jake asked. She shrugged nonchalantly.  
"The guy came in this morning at like 8:30? Said he needed the cash ASAP. We don't as questions so I took it off his hands, gave him the money, and went about ky day,"  
"What did he look like?"  
"About 6'0, he had this kind of dark blond hair, sort of muscular, and shit,"  
"Thank you, how much for the ring?"  
"Fifty bucks," He paid, thanked her again and met Charles outside.

"She described the perp, and I think I know matching someone of the description,"  
"What did he look like?" Jake repeated the description, and he knew that the two dots were connecting.  
"We're gonna need the security tapes from their apartment hallway," 

Their theory was correct.

Jack had gotten in at 2 AM, and the tapes focusing on their apartment door were normal for five hours. At seven, Connor left the apartment, locking the door and triple-checking it. An hour later, Jack emerged from the home, pocketing a small, black box. He didn't lock the door. But Jake noticed a couple of things about his behaviour. He bumped into a neighbour and only apologised when they were halfway down the hallway. When he turned around to keep walking, he staggered a bit, as of he was dizzy, looked a bit confused and then kept walking.  
Distorted perception, delayed reaction, dizziness and memory loss were all symptoms of drugs. Specifically, weed.

They showed the evidence to Captain Holt, who was seemingly impressed by their work. He even leant back in his chair and nodded approvingly.   
"Bring him in,"  


Jake felt almost euphoric. He'd cracked a case on the first day, that was pretty damn unusual. But, of course, Amy confronted him on their way out.  
"Charles, go wait in the car, I've got to talk with my husband," She ordered, then waited until she was certain he was out of earshot.  
"What the hell, Jake? You can't just drop that bomb on me!"   
"What? Oh, yeah,"  
"Explain, please,"  
"Okay. So, Connor is my ex-boyfriend, and we dated up until maybe a month before we got together," he sighed deeply. "Babe, I'm bi,"  
"Oh," Was all Amy said. She looked slightly taken aback, but she hadn't screamed about how disgusting he was in his face, so he considered that a win.

But, why should she? She very clearly had no issue with her superior officer being a married gay man. She had no issue when Rosa came out, in fact, she'd almost thrown a coming-out party in her honour. He'd been there when she planned it. She even made a playlist of songs about bisexuality.

"Do you have any questions?" He asked.  
"Just one," She said. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"  
"It never felt right, y' know. We were both always so busy, with you becoming a sergeant, the wedding, Rosa coming out. It just never felt like the right time. And I didn't tell you when we were dating because I didn't want you to think I was going to leave you for a man,"  
"Well, I'm glad you chose to tell me. And for the record, I'm far too amazing of a person to be left for a man," She said with a Gina-like attitude. He kissed her happily, before meeting Charles in the car.

They managed to arrest Jack without much trouble. Once they said that they had spoken to the pawnshop attendant, he admitted to the crime. He didn't even protest as they handcuffed him and put him in a police car. If only all criminals were like that.  
To be fair, he had probably smoked a bit of weed, so maybe he'd be more troublesome the longer he was in custody.

"Knock knock, Captain,"  
"Peralta, the door is open, there is no reason for you to knock, or say that you're knocking," Holt barely looked up from the paperwork he was doing.  
"The paperwork is done and I've returned the engagement ring to Connor," He said, leaving the obviousness of unsaid things in the air.  
"You would not come into my office for the paperwork, you would leave it on my assistant's desk. Unless there is something else to be said?" Holt closed the file and removed his reading glasses. Jake shut the door behind himself and pulled down the blinds.  
"There is," Jake took a deep breath, bracing himself. "I'm bi,"  
"Thank you for trusting me with that, son. I'm assuming Amy knows?"  
"Yes,"  
"But the rest of the squad don't,"  
"No, they don't, I'll tell them all on my own, thanks for accepting me da-captain. I said captain,"  
"Son, I believe we've known each other for long enough to accept the Father-Son dynamic," Holt said. He crossed the room until he stood right across from Jake, and held out his hand.  
Jake dismissed it with a wave and hugged him instead.

It was sufficiently awkward, but it was nice. Jake finally had a father figure who wasn't reluctant, unknowing or one of his mother's hookups.

The rest of the squad had very on-brand reactions. Terry picked him up the way a child picks up their favourite toy and went on for ten minutes about how he loved love.  
Rosa just took a sip of her coffee and said:  
"Dope," in response to his speech, which was almost exactly the same as the one he suggested for her when she came out, just a change of pronouns.   
Gina had texted back:  
_i thought u said u had news :/_  
  


He was the same person as he had been last week, except now he didn't have a secret looming over him. He was still madly in love with Amy, he was still addicted to coffee, he was still a hyperactive childish adult. But now he could admit that he had fallen for men and women, and it wasn't anything to be ashamed of.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! It took four days to write, so I'm glad it's finally done.


End file.
